{"product_id":"ilium-9780593470251","title":"Ilium","description":"\u003cb\u003eSet in the dark world of international espionage, from London to Mallorca, Croatia, Paris, and Cap Ferret: the gripping and suspenseful story of a young woman who unwittingly becomes a perfect asset in the long overdue finale of a covert special op \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Exquisite... \u003ci\u003eIlium \u003c\/i\u003eis like James Bond as told by the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e.\"\u003ci\u003e \u003ci\u003e-Good Morning America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe young English narrator of Lea Carpenter's dazzling new novel has grown up unhappily in London, dreaming of escape, pretending to be someone else and obsessed with a locked private garden. On the eve of her twenty-first birthday, at a party near that garden, she meets its charismatic and mysterious new owner, Marcus, thirty-three years older, who sweeps her off her feet. Before long they are married at his finca in Mallorca, and at last she has escaped into a new role - but at what price? On their honeymoon in Croatia, Marcus reveals there is something she can do for him--a plan is in place and she can help with \"a favor.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis turns out to be posing as an art advisor to a family on Cap Ferret, where Marcus asks her to simply \"listen.\" A helicopter deposits her at a remote, highly guarded and lavishly appointed compound on a spit of land in the Atlantic. It's presided over by an enigmatic, charming patriarch Edouard, along with his wife Dasha, children Nikki and Felix, and populated by a revolving cast of other guests--some suspicious, some intriguing, perhaps none, like her, what they seem. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBrilliantly compelling, this is a spellbinding and unexpectedly poignant story of a long- planned, high-stakes CIA-Mossad operation that only needed the right asset to complete.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEA CARPENTER is the author of two novels, \u003ci\u003e Eleven Days\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRed, White, Blue\u003c\/i\u003e. She is a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School and lives in New York.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51186508235026,"sku":"9780593470251","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3d7e80c7-ea98-4379-a52d-ff53677c4db1.jpg?v=1748525126","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/ilium-9780593470251","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}